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Father, kids work together in Cedar City towing company

This Father’s Day, Ladd Brindley is celebrating the opportunity to employ three of his children through his new towing company.

Jessi Brindley works for her father, Ladd Brindley, in his Cedar City business, Ladd’s Towing.

Jessi Brindley works for her father, Ladd Brindley, in his Cedar City business, Ladd’s Towing.

Brian Passey / The Spectrum & Daily News

As a former mechanic and part-time tow truck driver for Cedar City Motor Company (formerly Parkway Autoplex), Ladd raised his children with a love for towing. Now three of them — Laramy, 23; Wyatt, 21; and Jessi, 18 — are in the towing business with him.

“They’ve been sitting next to me (in a tow truck) ever since they were able to sit in a car seat,” Ladd says. “My kids love tow trucks. They always have.”

“They’ve been sitting next to me (in a tow truck) ever since they were able to sit in a car seat.”

-&nbspLadd Brindley, owner of Ladd's Towing

Ladd notes that even though Laramy is only 23, he already has 21 years of experience in the business. Laramy began practicing towing skills in earnest as a teen. Ladd came home once to find him driving a pickup with a trailer around a makeshift obstacle course.

Even Laramy’s young son, Chaidyn, has caught the tow truck bug.

“He’s 2 years old and all his toys are tow trucks,” Laramy says. “It’s in his blood.”

Ladd recently struck a deal with Cedar City Motor Company to start his own business. He opened Ladd’s Towing, on Feb. 1, operating out of an office owned by Cedar City Motor in exchange for serving all of his previous employer’s towing needs.

Starting his own business also enabled Ladd to hand-pick his employees. Naturally he went to the three people he had personally trained for many years: his own kids.

Laramy and Wyatt both have commercial driver licenses, so they are able to drive the tow trucks. Jessi assists them on calls, often steering the broken-down vehicles as they are loaded on and off the tow trucks.

“These guys are pretty much my role models — especially my dad.”

-&nbspJessi Brindley, Ladd's Towing employee

Jessi, who graduated from Canyon View High School last month, is already studying for her own CDL. She hopes to acquire her commercial license before she begins classes at Southern Utah University this fall to study business.

Like her brothers, the towing industry has intrigued Jessi since she was a small child.

“These guys are pretty much my role models — especially my dad,” Jessi says. “I like that he sees me as not a typical girly-girl.”

Laramy admits the male members of the family do worry about Jessi when they are out on certain jobs. But that worry also encourages them to teach her as much as they can.

Laramy Brindley loads a pickup on a tow truck Wednesday in Enoch with the help of his sister, ...more

Laramy Brindley loads a pickup on a tow truck Wednesday in Enoch with the help of his sister, Jessi, as they work for their father’s business, Ladd’s Towing.

Brian Passey / The Spectrum & Daily News

Jessi says she’s grateful they don’t treat her like a “regular girl,” despite her slight build and long blond hair.

“We’re sticking to staying away from that stereotype,” she says. “That’s the plan.”

Ladd says they all try to avoid another stereotype: the “greasy, filthy tow truck driver.” In defiance of that stereotype they wear new Ladd’s Towing shirts and trucker-style hats with the company logo (Jessi’s hat is pink). The back of the hats display a little tow truck humor: “Get hooked on us.”

Ladd also insists that his tow trucks be clean, inside and out. Since she cannot yet drive the trucks, one of Jessi’s tasks is vacuuming the truck interiors to make sure they look professional.

“He’s a real stickler about that,” Jessi says of her father. “He wants the trucks to look nice.”

Jessi says it’s fun to tell people about her interest in towing. The only time her peers have given her a hard time about it was when she presented a report in school about how she wanted to be a tow truck driver.

Jessi Brindley backs a pickup off of a tow truck Wednesday in Cedar City while working for her ...more

Jessi Brindley backs a pickup off of a tow truck Wednesday in Cedar City while working for her father’s business, Ladd’s Towing.

Brian Passey / The Spectrum & Daily News

Her eventual goal is to do the “big tows” associated with major automobile crashes. While she already rides along to help with clean-ups at crash sites, Jessi says she is still learning about all the aspects of responding to serious incidents.

As for working with his kids, Ladd calls it a “dream come true.”

“It’s not even like a job,” he says. “It’s like we’re on a vacation all the time, just hanging out.”

Laramy and Jessi joke that it’s like a vacation for their father because he gets to take every day off. After all, he’s the boss.

But when it comes down to it, they all recognize how lucky they are to have a father for a boss. Many fathers provide for their families in different ways, but they are able to say that their father has provided them with employment.

“I always get asked how I get such good drivers. I say, ‘You gotta raise them.'”

-&nbspLadd Brindley, owner of Ladd's Towing

While individual tows often separate them, larger wrecks might bring the family members together at the same time. Ladd says he has a “no fighting” rule for his employees but Wyatt says their only disputes typically focus on who gets to drive the truck with the best stereo.

Past jobs have been a struggle for Laramy but now he says he doesn’t worry about getting fired. If he messes up while working for his dad, he knows the boss might just send him home for the day.

Ladd’s wife, Maria, says she admires the company her husband has built in less than five months.

“He has an idea and follows through,” she says. “It’s nice to see him succeed, to go from where he was to where he is now. I’m always amazed.”